Full Comment's world in 60 seconds

The suburban Toronto mother who wanted the oak trees chopped down near a school (because kids are allergic) says we’ve all been unbearably mean to her and she was only doing what the school administration asked her to do by passing on their request to council. She was, she says, “ simply acting in a voluntary capacity, making a friendly request before my City Council on behalf of small children.” Yeah, well, don’t try it again.

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Notwithstanding the views of the National Post editorial board, Benjamin Netanyahu is having a hard time convincing the world — or even everyone in Israel — that he won the war with Hamas. He was supposed to be a superhawk, and what did he do? He failed to pulverize those putzes in Gaza like they deserved. Some warmonger he turned out to be.

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Having pronounced himself the big winner in the Gaza conflict, Egypt’s president has given himself new, near-dictatorial powers. He can now overrule the courts and protect the Islamic government against challenges. Plus he’s ordered a new trial for Hosni Mubarak. A bastion of democracy, that’s the new Egypt.

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Toronto’s ombudsperson is making the very sensible suggestion that people should be made aware that it’s not as hard to challenge a traffic ticket as the city makes it out to be, and wants a new non-court system set up, like they have in Vancouver, that frees up the courts and saves acres of time and bother on both sides. The city is resisting because 1. They don’t really want people to get out of tickets, even if they’re unjust and 2. They’re worried someone might challenge the new system.

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Vic Toews wants the RCMP to get off its duff and deliver a gender-bias plan like it’s supposed to. He’s mad that the Mountie’s boss blabbed about the plan to Postmedia News rather than putting it on paper. “Rather than pre-emptively discussing this matter in public and proceeding on a piecemeal basis, I had expected to also receive a plan of response that we (you, I and the RCMP and the government) could present to Canadians,” he wrote. “The time for review and report in relation to this issue has passed. Now is the time for action.” Hey, Vic does something right. Worth noting.

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Liberal senators are accusing Tory senators of putting politics ahead of science in killing a proposal for a “national strategy” for dealing with “liberation therapy.” “Since Day 1, the Conservative have played politics with MS patients,” beefed Senator Jane Cordy. “The Conservative senators on that committee threw the science away and have used politics, politics, politics.” Wait a minute: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says injuries and deaths have been associated with the experimental procedure, which may be cure-of-the-week on the internet but has yet to win much credibility elsewhere. Seems more like it’s the Tories who acted responsibly rather than pander to popular demand for pseudo-science.

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Ah, isn’t that sweet. Quebec and Alberta are setting up their own working group to discuss closer energy ties. So they don’t hate each other after all. (You see – you let women run the country and things get done)